Monofilament interproximal devices are described and claimed in: U.S. Pat. Nos. Re 35,439; 3,800,812; 4,974,615; 5,760,117; 5,433,226; 5,479,952; 5,503,842; 5,755,243; 5,845,652; 5,884,639; 5,918,609; 5,962,572; 5,998,431; 6,003,525; 6,083,208; 6,148,830; 6,161,555; and 6,027,592, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. These dental tapes generally have serious shortcomings in gentleness, in delivering coatings during flossing and in being handled easily and conveniently during flossing.
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) based interproximal devices are described in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,209,251; 5,033,488; 5,518,012; 5,911,228; 5,220,932; 4,776,358; 5,718,251; 5,848,600; 5,787,758; and 5,765,576. To date, no commercial versions of these tapes have been coated effectively and cannot be used to deliver active ingredients, interproximally and subgingivally during flossing. Handling during flossing is difficult. Most have to be folded to provide a consumer acceptable edge. Many are plagued with serious dimensional inconsistency problems, as well.
Monofilament dental tapes, in general, feature extraordinary shred resistance compared to multifilament dental flosses including those multifilament flosses described in the Hill, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,911,927; 5,057,310; 5,098,711; 5,165913; and 5,711,935.
The coated elastomeric monofilament tapes as described in Provisional Applications U.S.S. Nos. 60/227,433 and 60/227,255, respectively, offer the shred resistance of traditional monofilament tapes plus improved mouth feel, flavor impact, cleaning and hand. These attributes are responsible for the unexpected consumer preference of these coated elastomeric tapes over traditional monofilament tapes including PTFE tapes marketed under the trademark: Glide(copyright), Easy Slide(copyright) and Total(copyright).
The physical improvements in the monofilament tapes of the present invention include:
A xe2x80x9creduced-cutting-edgexe2x80x9d effect which is achieved by extruding:
(a) rounded edges, or
(b) multiple rounded surfaces at an edge, or
(c) an edge so thin and flexible that it bends or folds on contact with soft tissue.
These various extruded edges cushion the impact of these modified monofilament tapes on soft tissue. The cushioning tape edges illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 of the drawings are achieved during extrusion of the monofilament tape prior to drawing, by using various shaped extrusion dies. These customized dies deliver the various changes to the monofilament tape cutting edge dimensions as shown in FIGS. 1 through 4.
As described above, the present invention is directed to physical improvements made to coated monofilament dental tape, particularly wherein said improvement is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a reduced cutting edge wherein during monofilament tape extrusion, at least one lateral edge of said tape is formed into various shapes selected from the group consisting of: rounded shapes, multiple rounded shapes, thin flexible edges, multiple thin flexible edges and combinations thereof,
(b) feathered lateral tape edges comprising multiple fingers of varying densities and varying lengths introduced by various continuous cutting means applied to at least one edge of said tape after extrusion and prior to coating,
(c) self-indicating features incorporated into said coatings using a combination of colored tapes and colored tape coatings wherein various scribes applied to the coatings remove portions of the coating to form a visual predetermined design, and
(d) combinations thereof.
In certain preferred embodiments, the improved monofilament dental tape is improved in a manner such that the feathered lateral edge is selected from those illustrated in FIGS. 5 through 7 of the drawings.
In certain preferred embodiments, the improved monofilament dental tape is improved in a manner such that the self-indicating feature is selected from those illustrated in FIGS. 8 through 13 of the drawings.
Another preferred embodiment of the present invention is a process for physically improving coated monofilament dental tapes comprising carrying out at least one of the following steps:
(a) reducing the monofilament tape cutting edge effect, wherein during tape extrusion, at least one lateral edge of said tape is formed into various shapes selected from the group consisting of rounded shapes, multiple rounded shapes, thin flexible edges, multiple thin flexible edges and combinations thereof,
(b) forming feathered lateral tape edges after tape extrusion by applying continuous cutting means to at least one edge to produce lateral edge tape fingers at various densities and various lengths, and
(c) incorporating into colored monofilament tapes having colored coatings, various designs by removing a predetermined amount of said coating using scribe means to create a visual predetermined design in said coating.
Yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a method for improved cleaning of interproximal, subgingival and gingival margin areas of the oral cavity comprising flossing these areas with a coated monofilament dental tape having feathered lateral tape edges comprising multiple fingers of varying densities and varying lengths.
Yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a method for improved cleaning of interproximal, subgingival and gingival margin areas of the oral cavity comprising flossing these areas with a coated monofilament dental tape having at least one edge of said tape selected from the group consisting of rounded shapes, multiple rounded shapes, thin flexible edges, multiple thin flexible edges and combinations thereof.